The weather outside was frightful but inside the Andover Country Club, the wares at the Goosefare Antiques Show were delightful. Despite blustery conditions on January 27, a crowd swept in at opening when the snow was still marginal. Dealers expressed pleasure with the show, the location and the organization; most said they plan to return. The consensus was that it is a good show, weather notwithstanding.
Raven’s Way Antiques of North Kingstown, R.I., displayed a fine selection of decoys, both bird and fish, along with an alluring selection of tools. Other objects included a circa 1820 dovetailed oak trunk in old green paint and a good document box. A decoy sold during set-up.
Boston dealer Peter D. Murphy showed a dandy Staffordshire sink in the blue and white “Panorama” pattern. The sink was thought to have been a South Wales Pottery piece and it attracted little interest. Murphy had two handsome hooked rugs, with diamond shaped medallions and lush roses set into a trellis-like background, and an appealing footstool with a needlepoint cat. He sold several pieces of transfer ware.
Kenneth Earl Reid came from Andover to Andover †from New Hampshire to Massachusetts †and brought along an impressive cowhide box that retained bits of the original fur and was lined with pages from an 1832 newspaper. A charming doll and a jolly clown rested within. Reid had a range of folky smalls, including a dentist’s trade sign in the form of a tooth †a brown one, no less. A salesman’s sample case of pencils made for a colorful display.
Cape Cod gallery Rodenhizer Antiques of Sandwich, Mass., had an eclectic array that ranged from a pair of large wooden shoes to an early Twentieth Century globe light with round blue and white glass inserts to a selection of stone fruit to a pair of ivory elephant tusks. An Anglo-Indian ebony Standish sat cheek by jowl with a device that Bruce Rodenhizer said was a rare doll jumper, patented in 1880.
The booth space of the Ioneta Gallery of Wiscasset, Maine, was particularly serene, providing a soothing respite. The gallery presented an artful display of Nineteenth Century Chinese silk robes lined with fur of squirrels, baby lamb, ram, fox, otter and mink that could easily be worn but would also be an elegant wall hanging.
An extraordinary early to mid-Nineteenth Century Chinese woven bamboo vest, originally designed to be worn beneath a robe, was a study in graphics. An Eighteenth Century Chinese elm feng shui compass with the original crystal and a quilted case was yet another. Dealer Lisa Tichy, who admits to a passion for textiles, translated her New York fashion background into the arena of Asian textiles in which she specializes.
Tom Joseph of Limington, Maine, filled his booth with toys, including a rabbit wheelbarrow in old blue paint, blanket chests, lighting, a card table with rope twist legs, fireplace tools and some antique signs. Smalls included a small knife box with a cut out heart handle and a small blue dome top box and a large paint decorated box.
Jefferson, Maine, dealer Garland’s Antiques showed a pie safe with ten punched tin panels and a drawer, a drop leaf table surrounded by four paint decorated chairs, a four-drawer State of Maine chest in wavy birch and a circa 1870 server. Attractive ceramics, such as some Flow Blue, an ovoid jug, a stoneware churn by Seymour and Bosworth of Hartford, Conn., and a redware butter pot appealed to visitors.
Stone Block Antiques of Vergennes, Vt., had a bright green painted steel garden set comprising a small round table and four chairs, a two-drawer stand with glass pulls, a good blanket chest with two drawers, two nice painted thumb back chairs, a server and a pair of andirons.
Bert and Elaine McClary came from Francestown, N.H., with a Riley Whiting tall clock with a painted dial, a six-drawer Victorian walnut lockside chest, a schoolmaster’s desk and a Windsor rocker with a nice grungy surface. One pleased buyer was seen packing up a Queen Anne-style easy chair that was upholstered in a distinctive tiger plush.
Robert B. Hay of Hanover, N.H., exhibited some rarities such as the mid-Atlantic cherry piecrust candlestand with a reticulated base and ash spars, and dome top box in blue paint lined with pages from The Green Mountain Patriot of May 27, 1806. Hay showed a child’s Windsor whose arms terminated in ram’s heads that bore an old coat of black paint over a visible bittersweet that he said was probably an Eighteenth Century piece. A handsome butternut drop leaf table from around 1665 to 1700 had dovetailing on the leaves and measured 69 inches. A ladder back chair for sale had a nice Cromwellian crown and a narrow corner cabinet with two drawers and two doors measured 21 inches from the edge to the center back.
Thomas Moser Antiques brought a Maine triple-tier plant stand in the original green blue color that held a creamware pitcher of “The Farmers Arms.” The Lincolnville, Maine, dealer also showed a good burl bowl, a robust rooster and a maple one-drawer stand.
An interesting mid-Eighteenth Century German medical kit made of wood and iron, with labeled compartments for powders, mineral water and miscellaneous elements, along with pewter containers and glass vials with pewter tops, held pride of place in the booth of dealer Paul J. DeCoste of West Newbury, Mass. DeCoste said he has seen a similar example in a museum. He also brought a circa 1900 Chief Big Moon cast iron bank and the scientific instruments and antiques for which he is known.
Zyzaar Antiques came from Reading, Mass., with early iron lighting and tin lighting, Dedham pottery, three choice Nantucket baskets, toleware and Staffordshire.
Wallpaper boxes stood out in the booth of Stowe, Vt., dealer Handpicked Antiques where a Nineteenth Century cupboard, a blanket chest, quilts and velvet fruit provided showgoers much from which to choose.
The Little Shop showed a two-chimney birdhouse that evoked “Tara,” and a selection of Staffordshire that included an early pair of Scottish hunters. The Grafton, Mass., dealer filled an antique wicker doll carriage with three mohair teddy bears, two of which retained the Steiff button. Horse brasses and a rocking horse were also on offer.
Chocolate molds prevailed in the booth occupied by Orleans, Mass., dealer, Bayberry Antiques, where two canine doorstops were also for sale, one a sleeping dog and the other a pointer.
Distinguished country furniture provided interest in the booth of Falcon’s Roost Antiques of Grantham, N.H. A schoolmaster’s desk that was pegged and made with rosehead nails, was probably a New Hampshire piece; a North Shore Chippendale five-drawer chest, a southeastern Massachusetts card table and a Connecticut Queen Anne tiger maple highboy were on view. Smalls included an assortment of blue and white porcelain among which were a Meissen ladle, a Meissen crimper and a Meissen spoon.
Portsmouth, N.H., dealers Pat Reese and John Rice had a quirky duet of painted chalkware cats that were actually banks and probably came from a carnival. They were showing a series of six cockfighting prints, a brightly painted powder horn and a cast iron lion whose imposing head and flanks had been worn lovingly to a shine.
For information, 800-641-6908 or www.goosefareantiques.com .
